General Krib Advice Needed

[ishar]

Hey everyone. I recently bought a male and female krib for my 20G long and I am wondering if anyone has a few tips or pointers regarding them that I should be aware of?

One key thing I was wondering was about a cave. Do kribs need one? Will they breed without one? I don't have many places to put a cave, but I have one made of rocks stacked up but it is right at the front and an eye sore. Will they be happy without one?

 

[ishar]

I took out my rock cave and dug a concave structure with a wall around it under some driftwood- they seem to like that a lot. I think they are doing a bit of construction and making it even more to their liking

 

[unwritten law]

Ive always thought that they needed a cave cause that is how they spawn... So I'm happy that you could build one up with out it being tacky looking. I've tried to disguise most of mine with the driftwood and just tons or rocks so you can't really see an entrance.

 

[bmoraski]

I took out my rock cave and dug a concave structure with a wall around it under some driftwood- they seem to like that a lot. I think they are doing a bit of construction and making it even more to their liking

Great tank !
seeing it makes me want my planted tank NOW ! LOL
But i plan on doing lots of research.i know ill have to get certain lighting and what not but money is tight.
i really want to get started right away LOL
Later

 

[silver dollars]

The one thing I do when i get kribs is make sure my tank is more natural. And yours is *thumbsup2 so they should be fine! Try feeding them frozen brine shrimp, that will bring out there colors and get them to breed

 

[midmichman80]

I am no krib expert, but mine seem to play in the sand a lot. I made sure to have several caves and hiding places in the tank for them and they seem to dig underneath each piece and hang out in their pits. I have also tried to feed mine frozen brine shrimp, but they didn't touch a single one. Did you buy the kribs as a breeding pair? From what I understand kribensis are very picky when it comes to finding a partner. The first male I had in the tank was driven to suicide by female I purchased him with, and they came from the same tank at the lfs. I went out and found another male to place with her and she has accepted him into the tank and they don't fight, but no signs of spawning yet from this pair. Good luck Ishar on breeding your kribs, try the brine shrimp like silver dollar suggested, I am going to try it again and see if they will eat them this time.

 

[ishar]

I bought them just as a male and female, not a breeding pair. Mine seem to have paired off luckily enough. I have never had any cichlids before so I am not sure I know for sure, but they swim together all the time and the male is getting more pink in his belly everyday, and the female is super duper pink.

How do you tell if they have paired or not?

 

[unwritten law]

If they aren't aggressive towards each other I would assume that they have paired off especially if they are showing breeding colors because I assume kribs would normally be aggressive towards each other otherwise.

 

[ishar]

that is great news I can't wait to get my first brood .

I have a question though, separate from breeding. Has anyone else noticed them eat pond snails??? I just realized today that ever since putting these kribs into my tank I have no snails anymore! There used be be enough that I could count 20-30 at any time by looking in, but now? I haven't seen more than 5 all day! Is this coincidence or has anyone else noticed something similar?

I have a second question that just dawned on me- how big of a surface do they need to breed? They don't seem to like the cave I made for them all that much, and they keep hovering over one of my pieces of driftwood that has a large flat area but is pretty exposed to "enemies". Any ideas? I have no room for a clay pot or something similar, so please don't suggest it

 

[unwritten law]

my keyholes who breed on a flat rock use a bout the size of a half dollar if not more. They are about the size of a krib so that sounds about right.

 

[ishar]

Ok that is good to know- I think they will be able to find enough room for that on the rocks. Hopefully. I will be moving away from school in about 3 weeks, so I am not sure if I want them to breed just yet... but if they do I want it to be soon so they babies hopefully live through the stress :S.